Slow Computers Cost You One Week A Year

We started rolling out new computers with SSD's last year. Its crazy how fast they are, even after we load them up with all the necessary software our accountants and auditors use. Everyone loves them.

Hell I got to switch out my T60 for a new machine this year and I no longer HAVE to roam around in the morning making coffee, taking a leak, getting coffee, changing backup tapes because I'm waiting for my system to boot. Now I just do it by choice. The thing is up in running from start to finish in less than 20 seconds.
 
My work PC:
P4 2.8 2GB RAM (only because I took a gig out of another PC)
XP SP 3 IE 7

PC is slow, but manageable once its loaded. Only because I still have full admin access to most of the programs which I have uninstalled most of the bloatware I was able to and defrag and cleanup the disk once a month. Still takes about 5-8mins to fully load with Outlook 2007 open. PC comes of a halt though when the corporate Symentac Endpoint Protection decides to run a full system scan which I cannot stop though,
 
I was just observing the other day that my XBox 360 now reminds me of a slow computer. My laptop takes less time to boot to its desktop than the 360 does to get to the main screen. Then, I select GTA 5...which takes about a full minute to load...then it starts loading the story mode, so I press A to select online...which takes 1-2 minutes to get into. Then I select a "quick job" from my phone...and wait for another 30 seconds to a minute...

I'm counting in consoles with slow computers as time-wasters.
 
I'm honestly surprised by some of the responses here. Do your employers seriously not see the need to upgrade your computers? Even just throwing an SSD into an old P4 would be a cheap and immensely useful upgrade. If your superiors don't see the value in upgrading then they're basically unfit to make the decision. One week a year is, what, 1000$ at an annual wage of 50k? A moderate business desktop is just 5-600$.

Just to put it in context, I work in hospital IT in a 'socialized healthcare' country that has seen enormous budget cutbacks over the past 5 years. We're on our third director since (because nobody really wants the job) and it's the biggest political hot topic of the country. But, even then, we don't like computers getting much older than four or five years.
 
hordaktheman said:
I'm honestly surprised by some of the responses here. Do your employers seriously not see the need to upgrade your computers? Even just throwing an SSD into an old P4 would be a cheap and immensely useful upgrade. If your superiors don't see the value in upgrading then they're basically unfit to make the decision. One week a year is, what, 1000$ at an annual wage of 50k? A moderate business desktop is just 5-600$.

Just to put it in context, I work in hospital IT in a 'socialized healthcare' country that has seen enormous budget cutbacks over the past 5 years. We're on our third director since (because nobody really wants the job) and it's the biggest political hot topic of the country. But, even then, we don't like computers getting much older than four or five years.
Click to expand...

Some of this is caused by department politics. Some is lack of knowledge. Some is absolute apathy. It took me a year to convince my boss at my last job that my monitor needed calibration.
 
hordaktheman said:
Just to put it in context, I work in hospital IT in a 'socialized healthcare' country that has seen enormous budget cutbacks over the past 5 years. We're on our third director since (because nobody really wants the job) and it's the biggest political hot topic of the country. But, even then, we don't like computers getting much older than four or five years.
Click to expand...

Difficult to be in charge of an ever declining budget with uninspired employees and everyone wanting everything yesterday all without a single failure as you have lives on the line.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Some of this is caused by department politics. Some is lack of knowledge. Some is absolute apathy. It took me a year to convince my boss at my last job that my monitor needed calibration.
Click to expand...

It means it would have one less round of golf! It never ceases to amazing me how people have difficultly understanding others needs. In the end did you calibrate it yourself or...
 
Most of the people at my company use Win 7 on an i3 or i5 (ivy bridge), 4GB RAM minimum (can request more if you need it for your job), and regular HDDs. There are still a few systems running XP on some C2D systems, but they are getting cycled out over the next year.

My only complaint are the monitors and lotus notes. I have a measly 19" 1440x900 LCD. It is a new model, but I want more resolution/screen real estate since I have 10 programs I need to use. The good news is that our help desk (my job) is moving to a new location in the building and we are getting upgraded to dual monitors (still 19" though).

As for lotus notes...ugh. At least we are moving to office 365 soon.

Some people even have triple 24" (1920x1200) monitors.
 
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